Teenager tells judge the man who sexually abused him should be sent to prison ‘for the rest of his life’

He spoke about the rage he is beginning to understand. He spoke about how its hard for him to sleep at night, how he spent more than a month in a psychiatric hospital and is now behind in school.

He spoke about how his little brother is afraid of him and his anger, and how his mother questions everyone and trusts no one.

He spoke about how powerless he felt and how he wished the stooped man across the room with his hands shackled at his waist was going to prison for a lot longer than he will.

“I feel that since that man violated me, my life has been out of control,” the teenager said. “I have been so angry at the world for allowing this to happen. I physically attack people I love. I punch holes in the walls of my home.”

Clyde Earl Shatney, formerly of 42 Bean Road, Merrimack, pleaded guilty to four counts of felonious sexual assault Jan. 30 and will spend at least 51?2 years in prison following his sentencing hearing at Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua. The sentence is part of a negotiated plea bargain Shatney struck with prosecutors, one the victim understood but wasn’t happy with.

“This man did not allow me to negotiate,” the boy said. “I believe he should have more time. If I had the choice, he would be in there for the rest of his life.”

Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Catherine Devine agreed. She told Judge Kathleen McGuire the deal was made partly to avoid the victim and his family having to endure a trial and that watching Shatney admit to his crimes would be beneficial to the victim’s healing process.

The boy was a “very brave young man that day,” Devine said. “He did exactly what he needed to do to get himself help.”

Merrimack police were called July 19, 2013, when the victim called them from the home of Shatney’s neighbor and said he had been assaulted by Shatney.

The boy had knocked frantically on several doors before he found someone at home. Police arrested Shatney that night and later found several pieces of evidence that corroborated the boy’s statements, including clothing he said Shatney was wearing. DNA also matched, Devine said.

“He actually had to go to (the hospital) and undergo a rape kit,” she said. “At 13 years old.”

Shatney was sentenced to two, consecutive sentences of 31?2 to seven years in prison. Eighteen months of the minimum on one of those sentences can be suspended if he completes a sex offender treatment program in prison, leaving 51?2 years as the least amount of time he will be imprisoned. Shatney was sentenced to another 31?2 to seven years, all of which will be suspended for five years upon his release, on the remaining two charges.

Shatney was already on the state’s sexual offender registry. Devine said he was charged with aggravated felonious sexual assault in 2008 but pleaded to sexual assault in 2009.

He will be on that registry as part of the new convictions as well.

Shatney didn’t speak except to answer McGuire’s questions about the rights he was waiving by accepting the plea deal before he was escorted from the courtroom. The victim’s mother also gave a lengthy statement.

“I think you’re one of the biggest dirt bags I know,” she told Shatney. “He feels things and doesn’t understand them because he’s so young. No child should have to go through this.”

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com.